


Chipped Black Nail Polish

by angelsbqtch



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Nail Polish, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:00:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28819638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelsbqtch/pseuds/angelsbqtch
Summary: "are- are you wearing nail polish?""yeah! i asked zuko to paint my nails for me,""and he agreed?"
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	Chipped Black Nail Polish

zuko drew in a deep breath, eyes closed and mind calm. he heard aang do the same, though the younger’s ( in looks, at least ) was more audible. after a few seconds, zuko exhaled through his mouth, instructing that aang do the same.

he sat criss-crossed in front of the avatar, the other mirroring him. the early morning sun was working its way up in the sky, shining over the duo. even if zuko wasn’t opening his eyes, he could sense aang opening his eyes a sliver every few seconds. this was going to be difficult.

zuko’s eyes snapped opened when he heard aang gasp, his mind flying to the worst possibilities. 

“what?!” the firebender questioned, trying not to let his worry show. 

aang didn’t respond directly. instead, the avatar opened his mouth in awe, tugging zuko’s hand closer to his from its prier place on the teenagers thigh. it took a few seconds for zuko to realize aang was looking at the chipped black nail polish coating his nails before he retracted his hand sharply.

“is that nail polish?” aang asked, smiling up at zuko. 

swallowing the fear of rejection, zuko nodded. the monks were always accepting people, no need to worry about aang kicking him out for wearing nail polish. not worried at all. 

aang didn’t seem to notice the others face twisting uncomfortably as he set his gaze on the boys nails. he looked at the firebender again, this time hopeful. 

“can you paint mine too, sifu hotman?” 

zuko hesitated. 

the boy in front of him looked so young, so hopeful that it hurt his heart. of course, zuko wouldn’t admit that. realizing he’d taken too long to respond, zuko covered his emotions with fake annoyance. aang didn’t seem fazed.

“fine, but you have to stop calling me that.” zuko told him firmly, not moving from his spot on the ground. seeing aang about to get up, practically buzzing in his place, the firebender added on. “after practise.”

aang sat back down with a sheepish grin plastered across his lips. “right. sorry, sifu hotman.” 

zuko didn’t even bother correcting him.

as soon as firebending practise was over, aang shot up with the same boyish excitement clear over his features. zuko took his time, letting the younger take the lead. “your room?” aang has asked once he realized he didn’t know where to go, earning a nod from the teenager. 

when aang entered the room, he sat on the bed and waited for zuko to get out the nail polish. zuko could’ve laughed, watching the boy try to patiently wait but inevitably fail. he kept fidgeting, staring zuko down as if to hurry him. 

zuko rooted through the bag on his floor, opening the small flap on the side. he had three colours. black and red, obviously, as well as a bright orange that ty lee had gifted him a while again. she claimed his colours were boring. he had scoffed at that, though accepted the new, oddly coloured polish. 

“i have red, black, and orange. which one?” he questioned somewhat awkwardly, albeit knowing the answer already. the teenager stood at the end of the bed, shifting his weight and praying that aang make his obvious decision soon.

aang grinned. “orange!”

zuko put the other two back in the small flap of his bag, mumbling a quiet ‘of course.’ either aang didn’t hear or he just didn’t mention it as he sat criss-crossed on the bed again. it reminded zuko of his own meditating form from earlier that day. 

“okay, give me your hand out.”

“katara! katara! guess what!” aang exclaimed excitedly, running up behind the concentrated girl. katara didn’t look up from where she was trying a new waterbending form, eyebrow furrowed in focus. from near the waterbender, toph, sokka, and suki looked at aang curiously.

“what?” it didn’t sound mean, katara having purposely softened her voice as to not come off rude.

aang smiled wider, sticking out his hand wordlessly. a bright orange was displayed over his short fingernails, matching the rest of his outfit. 

casting a short glance at the hand, katara had to take double take, officially loosing control of the floating water strings. sokka, suki, and toph all looked at the two in confusion. well, toph technically stared at a tree with her ear pointed at the duo.

"are- are you wearing nail polish?" she asked, taking the shorter boys hand in her grasp to examine the orange polish. there wasn’t any judgment in her tone, not that aang would notice if there was.

aang replies with the same enthusiasm that his grin held. "yeah! i asked zuko to paint my nails for me," he answered. 

sokka stood up, coming over to the two. 

“and he agreed?” katara asked at the same time that sokka asked,

“zuko wears nail polish?” 

unfazed by the incredulous questions, aang nodded at the siblings. he showed sokka, and suki who waltzed up from behind her boyfriend. 

“that looks nice,” she commented kindly, admiring the orange nails that aang wore. the siblings beside her nodded in agreement.

sokka spoke next. “yeah, it matches your aura.” it was meant as a joke but aang didn’t see, his grin wider than ever. how does a twelve year old smile that much?

“really?” he asked happily, causing suki and katara to stifle laughs.

zuko walked over at the moment, unknowing of the previous conversation. he sat next to toph, who was listening to his footsteps silently. she didn’t bother to come over to see aang’s nails. she literally couldn’t see either way. 

“hey, sparky.” she greeted, feeling zuko slump down on the log next to her. he nodded in acknowledgement, settling beside the blind girl. 

sokka hopped over to sit on zuko’s other side, the rest still in a conversation with aang. he stared at the firebender until the teenager was forced to look back. he regretted it the second he turned his head to sokka.

“nice nails,” the boomerang wielder complimented, staring down at the chipping nail polish on the firebender’s fingernails. zuko was surprised to find no trace of judgement in his voice. the fire nation wasn’t very accepting of men with painted nails. he had to remind himself he wasn’t there anymore.

zuko looked away. “thanks,” he responded, his regular awkwardness making it sound weird, foreign. 

“can you do mine too?” sokka asked with a smile, attempting to tone down the tinge of excitement in his tone.

raising his eyebrow up in surprise, zuko looked at the other boy. “you want me to paint your nails?” he still didn’t believe it when sokka responded with the same enthusiasm as aang, but nodded nonetheless. 

“can you paint mine too? it’s been a while since i’ve gotten my hands on some nail polish,” suki explained, sitting down next to sokka with a small, friendly smile. 

katara cleared her throat. “i- i wouldn’t mind if you did mine too,” she admitted, too proud to fully ask for zuko to paint her nails. 

“uh- yeah. sure.” zuko agreed, flitting his eyes across the others. aang was still too busy admiring his own nails to pay attention. this was certainly not the reaction zuko anticipated.

and if the gaang all had painted nails by the end of the night, toph included ( claiming she wanted to match her favourite firebender, even if she couldn’t see it herself ), zuko didn’t mind.


End file.
